SPECIAL SPOTLIGHT: THE ELF WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS

I’ve previously mentioned that I used to love watching holiday-themed reruns of cartoons and sitcoms on the USA Network in the days leading up to Christmas.  Among them was The Elf Who Saved Christmas, which I saw just once as a kid and spent years thinking about and searching for (this was long before things like DVR, Netflix and even DVDs).  For years I remembered it fondly but vaguely.  I could only recall a few things about this 1992 live-action Christmas special: a female elf, a giant mailbox and a vulture villain.  Finally a year or so ago and a fair amount of time spent googling the search terms above and I figured out the title (and it turns out my memory was somewhat faulty—the villain wasn’t a vulture but rather a witch named “Mrs. Buzzard”).  

But even after figuring out the title I was frustrated to discover that this obscure little special was only available on VHS and nowhere else.  This morning some spirit of Christmas compelled me to google it yet again and lo and behold!  Some benevolent soul uploaded the entire thing to YouTube this past November.  So it was with great excitement that I settled down to watch this happy piece of my childhood.

The Elf Who Saved Christmas is what I would term “delightfully low-budget.”  It has a definite DYI feel about it that ranks it just slightly above a video you and your friends would have made for an 8th grade class project.  Santa’s Workshop looks like someone’s repurposed house and his entire staff is made up of only 7 elves (and at least one is incompetent).  It does feature actress Jo Anne Worley as Mrs. Buzzard, but unless you’re like me and enjoy character actresses of the 60s and 70s that probably doesn’t add much.

The plot is a tried and true formula, as Christmas and Santa are seemingly in constant need of rescue.  In this case Santa hasn’t received any letters so he decides to cancel Christmas this year.  A plucky (aren’t they all?) mailroom elf named Toby sets out to save the holiday, discovering that a witch named Mrs. Buzzard enchanted his mailbox and redirected all his mail.  Toby’s belief in Christmas breaks the spell, the letters are returned and Santa sets out to deliver the goods.  

The villains found in this type of special always fascinate me.  They tend to be rather wacky and their motives vague; Mrs. Buzzard is no exception.  She’s a witch but dresses kind of like Mother Goose.  She apparently wants kids to be disappointed by Santa’s failed arrival and therefore misbehave, but it’s never explained exactly why.  Does she derive dark eldritch energy from misdeeds?  Is she part bird, part woman?  I think I need to write a Mrs. Buzzard fan fiction origin story.  As witches go she’s pretty down on her luck: her lair looks like somebody’s backyard shed with a crystal ball on a folding table and somebody stuck a tiny vulture stuffed animal in one corner (hence my years of buzzard/vulture confusion?!).  I think most of the budget went into building the giant mailbox... 

After Toby the elf gets sucked into Mrs. Buzzard’s lair via the enchanted mailbox Mrs. Buzzard just sits in a chair and half-heartedly cackles.  Seriously, she sits and plays with a slinky while Toby tries to escape.  I like to think that Jo Anne Worley was like “okay, I’ll be in this but only if I can sit for 90% of the time and play with a slinky.”  When Toby escapes Mrs. Buzzard just sort of sighs in resignation.  As anti-Christmas villains go she’s pretty low energy. 

The same goes for Santa.  When Toby calls the post office to check on the missing letters (which she waits to do until Christmas Eve, for some reason) they tell her that the mail was indeed delivered (but, as we later learn, subsequently stolen by Mrs. Buzzard).  But Santa says “Oh, they’re just trying to make me feel better.  Nobody sent letters.  Christmas is over!”  Santa needs some self-esteem!  I think he secretly was just looking for an excuse to skip the sleigh ride that year.

Despite my poking fun, I wholeheartedly enjoyed re-watching The Elf Who Saved Christmas after all this time.  I'm grateful that we live in this internet age where you can track down these obscure childhood gems and so readily evoke a sense of nostalgic holiday bliss.  You best believe that when Toby turned to the camera and implored the audience to say “I believe in Christmas” with her three times in order to break Mrs. Buzzard’s spell my voice rang out loud and clear!

P.S. While doing some light research for this post I discovered that there is a second special featuring the same characters, including Mrs. Buzzard, called The Elf and the Magic Key, also up on your YouTube!